[2.3] Possible script changes New version http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/534848/20MarchTestScripts.rar New version with more spiffy changes. Next version probably tomorrow. - New "Logistics" tree, chassis and whatnot go in there - Added .txt with all weapons currently in, 91 is the number - Artillery back under Upgraded Chassis - Complete sort-through - Scatter HE MG is DEAD IT'S DEAD JIM Next up: - Remove high tier armors, its pointless, improve normal armors to 2.23ish levels - Buff grenadier researches + armor increase + 5 - descriptions, ima do it myself if I see no results - complete go through of heat to target values (missiles do less heat to target, cannons do more) - LT mkii needs some thinking - Scatter cannon Maybe a server in sight now What to test: - check weapon names and short weapon names - check for obviously overpowered weapons - specifically check tier 3 bio weapons Changes: - different research tree concept (dizzys plan with a few modifications) - ~93 recycled or new weapons (note, in normal games you'll only have the standard ones + 1 tier (max 16) of them, so no spam Notes: - detailed documentation about the whole thing follows if it proves to be viable - talking to nesquiko about icons - if the idea proves to be viable there will be more tests with more players/testers. Prolly going to invite non-testers then. (You can however test them with whoever you like) FAQ How does research work? You still research armor, engine, chassis like you used to. All the weapons are grouped into "tiers". Every research tree has 3 consecutive tiers of weapons. Those tier researches take a long time and cost you quite some money. As a result you get batches of 4-9 weapons per tier. Normal games are meant to be played this way: You choose your research tree and usually keep on going till you reached tier 3 (the best weapons) After that you MAYBE open another tree. What's up with 90 different weapons? Spam-a-lot? Since your comm should stick to 1, maybe 2 trees your vehicle customization interface shouldn't be spammed by more than 30ish weapons including the standard ones. The weapons are geared towards having somewhat easy to remember names. The biological tier 1 has "BS Cannons", pun intended. I'm also asking around for proper icons indicating the trees. What's up with the whacky weapon descriptions? Going to be fixed, need description writer. You evil person, you take away the fun of quickly researching paper railgun heavies!? I plead guilty. However instead of letting the commander completely decide which weapons the team will use now the players themselves have more possibilites for tank customization. The full "research pressure" shifts from the commander to the players, enabling them to find their own favorite weapon in every tree. There are no "useless researches", all the trees have a decent amount of all weapon types for your choosing pleasure. Wait, so now it doesn't matter at all what tree is researched? I tried to give the trees distinctive characteristics, weaknesses and strong points. They are as follows: Electrical Pro: Precise (homing, guiding, precise mgs and cannons, rails) + fast shooting (autocannons, massive salvo swarms) Con: Range, Handling Mechanical (yes it has weapons now, geared towards spam) Pro: Cheap (weapon costs of OTHER trees have been slightly increased) + light (missile rack weapons, light tank mkii, afv mkii, nano weapons (1 slot uber cannon for example)) Con: Ammo-replenishing times, only average weapons Chemical Pro: Blast radius (duh, tier 1 has explosive weapons already, siege cannon ftw) + heat (phospor cannon deals heat to target, low heat weapons for spam) Con: Ammo capacity very low, reload times, ineffecient against enemy tanks, range Physics Pro: Fast (Fast ml ftw) + damaging (depleted uranium cannon, fission ml [<-- nuke ]) Con: Inefficient against infantry, blast radius, cost, weight Biology (Evil aids) Pro: Durable/ammo (makes tanks not need engineers every second) + damage over time (all kinds of bio weapons including bio arty :x rape) Con: Low alpha strike damage, requires you to play defensive If one tree is not good enough it can get more or better weapons. Or it's price and research time can be adjusted Found issues - descriptions (lots of em) - scatter cannon pointless
If a working server is found until then, yes. Also tried giving the scripts to porthos but his svn repo seems outdated, don't want to mess it up now.
Did an impromptu testing today, found quite a few things already. Those should be fixed by tomorrow then we can see about scheduled tests. Sunday evening might be a possibility if I dig up a server.
I volunteer, give me the time. *edit I also volunteer to be the description writer and overall grammatical freak.
Get working on the research_items.txt. Start with the descriptions for the chemistry tier 1-3. Keep the format, e.g. list the weapon each of those tiered researches give you by consulting the vehicle_weapon.txt.
These scripts really should be in 2.24. They are that awesome. Some new sounds and possibly FX would be nice however.
Some Tier1 descriptions are the same. Fixed most others, not much to fix, made some things clearer, etc.
Sure, get back to me with any errors, and I'll fix 'em up, look it over again, and repost. Shadow187 <-- feels important. ove:
http://rapidshare.com/files/209367779/scripts.zip Extract to your empiresTEST directory. It includes the description fix. These scripts are so fucking fun.
Yea thanks I'll check it out today. Some are the same because I was too tired to come up with something remotely witty. Edit: Also, the chem descriptions aren't fixed ;P, neither are most of the other research tree descriptions. They are mostly copy-paste. They need to be rewritten completely. Check out the physics tree description, the other trees need a description like that. This means listing the researched weapons and giving it an unique description that relates to the research name. (never change research names btw. it would break everything) Also, the descriptions in the vehicle_weapon.txt need to be checked out and possibly rewritten. If you are bored you can try to write-up a would-be wiki/introduction article to the changes. Like describe the strenghts and weaknesses of the trees. Also need a list of the weapons categorized by trees, maybe with a short functional description. (A bit more than "Shoots stuff, shoots more stuff" --> nesquiko "kinda" agreed on making icons, I need to give him a list) Anyways, anyone got any suggestions for bio weaponry?
Maybe, needs coder though. But a bio damage scatter grenade launcher seems fun. Chokes out infantry just fine imo. Also the bio bomb arty has a pretty large and long lasting green goey explosion, it hurts over time, just not the way you thought of it. (very low damage, very long infection time)
If you whip the testers hard enough we might get particle effects for every weapon and sounds Hey their are so many testers, and 2.3 will not be released next week so we might get some content til then. EDIT: the scatter mg's spread is so big that I hit my own tank
